U.N. Panel Grills Vatican on Sex-Abuse Cases

Officials Say More Has to Be Done but Jurisdiction Over Clergy Is Limited

By

Liam Moloney

Jan. 16, 2014 6:16 p.m. ET

ROME—Vatican officials told a United Nations panel Thursday that Roman Catholic Church leaders need to do more to grapple with cases of sex abuse by clergy but reiterated that the church has limited jurisdiction in tackling the problem.

In one of the church's most public grillings for its handling of sex- abuse scandals around the world, Vatican officials faced hours of tough questions in Geneva from a committee on its implementation...